April 21, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



563 



died from tuberculosis of the lungs (including 

 acute miliary tuberculosis). As a result of a 

 more general understanding of the laws of 

 health, the importance of fresh air, etc., due in 

 part, no doubt, to the efforts of the various 

 societies for the prevention of tuberculosis, 

 there has been a most marked and gratifying 

 decrease during recent years in the mortality 

 from this scourge of civilization. In only a 

 decade — from 1904 to 1914 — the death rate 

 from tuberculosis in all its forms fell from 

 200,7 to 146.8 per 100,000, the decline being 

 continuous from year to year. This is a drop 

 of more than 25 per cent. Prior to 1904 the 

 rate had fluctuated, starting at 201.9 in 1900. 

 Even yet, however, tuberculosis has the grue- 

 some distinction of causing more deaths annu- 

 ally than any other form of bodily illness ex- 

 cept heart diseases, and over 40 per cent, more 

 than all external causes — accidents, homicides 

 and suicides combined. 



Pneumonia (including bronchopneumonia) 

 was responsible for 83,804 deaths in the regis- 

 tration area in 1914, or 127 per 100,000— the 

 lowest rate on record. The mortality rate from 

 this disease, like that from tuberculosis, has 

 shown a marked decline since 1900, when it 

 was 180.5 per 100,000. Its fluctuations from 

 year to year, however, have been pronounced, 

 whereas the decline in the rate for tuberculosis 

 has been nearly continuous. 



The only remaining death rate higher than 

 100 per 100,000 in 1914 was that for Bright's 

 disease and acute nephritis, 102.4. The total 

 number of deaths due to these maladies in 

 1914 was 67,545, more than nine tenths of 

 which were caused by Bright's disease and the 

 remainder by acute nephritis. The mortality 

 from these two causes increased from 89 per 

 100,000 in 1900 to 103.4 in 1905, since which 

 year it has fluctuated somewhat. 



IsText in order of deadliness comes cancer 

 and other malignant tumors, which filled 52,- 

 420 graves in 1914. Of these deaths, 19,889, 

 or almost 38 per cent., resulted from cancers 

 of the stomach and liver. The death rate from 

 cancer has risen from 63 per 100,000 in 1900 

 to 79.4 in 1914. The increase has been almost 

 continuous, there having been but two years — 



1906 and 1911 — which showed a decline as com- 

 pared with the years immediately preceding. 

 It is possible that at least a part of this indi- 

 cated increase is due to more accurate diag- 

 noses and greater care on the part of physi- 

 cians in making reports to registration officials. 



Diarrhea and enteritis caused 52,407 deaths 

 in 1914, or 79.4 per 100,000. This rate shows 

 a marked falling off as compared with the rate 

 for the preceding year, 90.2, and a very pro- 

 nounced decline as compared with that for 

 1900, which was 133.2. Nearly five sixths of 

 the total number of deaths charged to these 

 causes in 1914 were of infants under 2 years 

 of age. 



Apoplexy was the cause of 51,272 deaths, or 



77.7 per 100,000. The rate from this malady 

 has increased gradually, with occasional slight 

 declines, since 1900, when it stood at 67.5. 



Arterial diseases of various kinds — athe- 

 roma, aneurism, etc. — caused 15,044 deaths, or 



22.8 per 100,000, in the registration area. 



No epidemic disease produced a death rate 

 as high as 18 per 100,000 in 1914. The fatal 

 cases of diphtheria and croup — which are 

 classed together in the statistics, but prac- 

 tically all of which are of diphtheria — num- 

 bered 11,786, or 17.9 per 100,000, in that year, 

 the rate having fallen from 43.3 in 1900. This 

 decline of nearly 59 per cent, is relatively 

 greater than that shown by any other impor- 

 tant cause of death. The rate has not fallen 

 continuously, but has fluctuated somewhat 

 from year to year. 



Diabetes was the cause of 10,666 deaths, or 

 16.3 per 100,000. The rate from this disease 

 has risen almost continuously from year to 

 year since 1900, when it was 9.7 per 100,000. 



The mortality rate from typhoid fever has 

 shown a most gratifying decline since 1900, 

 having decreased from 35.9 per 100,000 in that 

 year to 15.4 in 1914, or by 57 per cent. This 

 decline has been almost as great, relatively, as 

 that for diphtheria, and has been greater than 

 that for any other principal cause of death. 

 The total number of deaths due to typhoid 

 fever in 1914 was 10,185. The marked de- 

 crease in the mortality from this disease gives 

 emphatic testimony to the effectiveness of 



